It seemed like business as usual on Wednesday afternoon at Ariemma's Italian Deli in Dongan Hills. Customers were stopping in for signature sandwiches and homemade soups and placing catering orders for Christmas and New Year's. But a sign on the door indicated otherwise. "We will be closed for business on Saturday due to the passing of my dad, Mario. We will be open until 3:00 on Christmas Eve."

Mario R. Ariemma, the son of Italian immigrants who peddled produce in his longtime neighborhood of South Beach before opening the successful deli at the intersection of Hylan Boulevard and Buel Avenue now run by his son, died Tuesday morning at home in Monroe, N.J. He was 89.